Resilient hand pad and block system for relieving hand and wrist stress, and related pain, during yoga and related floor-based poses and exercises
A hand pad for stabilizing and supporting on a floor or other surface the hand of a user during stationary and dynamic exercises includes a body having a top surface defining a debossed profile of a human hand for receiving therein the hand of a user, and a bottom surface having a slip-resistant texture.
The present disclosure generally relates to products for supporting a user's hands during floor-based exercising. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a resilient hand form pad and block system constructed for supporting one or more hands during the process of a yoga or other floor-based posing and stretching exercise, in a manner that prevents hand slipping during the process, while significantly reducing stress typically felt on the hands and wrists of a user—particularly, a user having a preexisting condition or injury—during particular exercises, yoga poses and the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONIn recent years, the yoga (and many other floor-based stretching and exercise practice) have proliferated at an incredible pace, particularly as individuals, both young and old, realize the profound health benefits. In general, yoga is a combined and integrated physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline. The origins of yoga speculatively date back many centuries to areas of Asia. The practice of yoga came to the attention of an educated Western public in the mid-19th century, along with related topics of Indian philosophy. Arguably, the current explosion in the popularity of yoga began in the 1980's, and is often practiced as a purely physical system of health exercises outside of and unconnected to any religious denomination.
There is also a significant physical exercise aspect to the practice of yoga. These physical exercises, which are beneficial for expanding the flexibility and range of motion of a practitioner's body, are typically practiced upon a relatively thin resilient mat supported upon a hard ground or floor surface, such as wood. Many of the movements and poses necessarily require utilization of one or both hands to support at least a portion of the practitioner's body, during body movements and during stationary poses. Unfortunately, for individuals having preexisting medical conditions and ailments, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis and physical injuries, for example, many floor-based exercises, yoga movements and poses, and the like, although performed on a mat can cause significant pain. As a result, many individuals, for whom yoga would be an incredibly useful tool for reducing, if not completely eliminating, the corresponding debilitating effects relating to various preexisting ailments, conditions, and injuries of the hands and wrists, are unable to practice yoga and other related floor-based exercises.
Another issue that is commonly encountered during yoga and other floor-based exercise practices is inadvertent slipping of the hands. In addition to placing a practitioner's palms on the surface of the floor or, more typically, a floor-covering mat, to support a portion of the body, combinations of lateral and longitudinal movement of the practitioner's body often place directional stresses on the hands, fingers and wrists, of the users that are typically only counteracted by the forces of friction between the mat surface and the portion of the user's hands in direct contact with the mat. However, this frictional contact and resistance for supporting the user's body during yoga exercise, or non-yoga specific related stretching and exercise movement, is often inadequate. The potential for hands slipping is further exacerbated by perspiration formed on the palms and sweat dripping off of the body and onto the underlying mat surface. This can cause undesirable hand slipping, which can result in the potential for serious hand, wrist, arm and other bodily injuries. Accordingly, there has been an ongoing effort, often by practitioner's themselves, to device products to minimize, and preferably avoid, hand slipping, as well as devices aimed at reducing stress on the hands and wrists. Still, there is a need for a single system that could effectively address both of these commonly encountered issues. It would be highly desirable to provide such a system that is lightweight, portable, easy to use, and lends itself to easy and efficient manufacture to enable the production of an affordable, cost-effective system. With regard to yoga, many individuals use so-called “yoga blocks,” which are function as props to make individuals more comfortable and improve alignment. For example, blocks are great for standing poses in which one hand is on the floor, such as Ardha Chandrasana. The blocks provide a raised surface for the user to help get into postures safely and with proper alignment, allowing the user to experience the pose and its benefits even if the user's hamstrings or shoulders are tight. They help to make yoga accessible to beginners and those experiencing injury or other physical limitations. They can also help bring awareness to the body to feel how to properly engage and support muscles in a specific pose. Therefore, it would be highly desirable and incredibly beneficial to provide a system that not only includes a component that addresses hand slipping and painful pressure upon the hand and wrist, but also is adapted to be quickly and efficiently engaged with a resilient block component to provide the aforementioned added benefits of a yoga block.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present disclosure provides a novel resilient hand pad and block system that addresses limitations, drawbacks and disadvantages, of existing devices by providing a portable, affordable, effective system that very effectively prevents hand slipping, significantly reduces hand and wrist stress, and can be optionally selectively-engaged with a system component for quick and easy conversion into a yoga block form.
The system is generally directed to a resilient hand pad for stabilizing and supporting on a floor or other surface the hand of a user during stationary and dynamic exercises, in manner substantially relieving stress that would otherwise normally be felt at various points and areas of the hand and wrist. The hand pad has a body including a top surface defining a debossed profile of a human hand for receiving therein the hand of a user, and a bottom surface having a slip-resistant texture.
In an aspect, the slip-resistant texture may take the form of a plurality of parallel corrugations.
In another aspect, the corrugations may be transverse to a longitudinal orientation of the debossed human hand profile.
In another aspect, the bottom surface may be coated, or otherwise have disposed thereon, a slip-resistance substance.
In another aspect, the debossed human hand profile may be defined by a substantially continuous deboss, or cavity, sidewall.
In another aspect, the sidewall may be concave.
In another aspect, the body may comprise a plurality of layers.
In another aspect, at least one layer defines a bottom layer formed or otherwise created with a slip-resistant substance.
In another aspect, the bottom layer may have a bottom surface formed or otherwise created as a plurality of parallel corrugations substantially transverse to a longitudinal orientation or otherwise created of the debossed human hand profile.
In another aspect, at least one layer may define an intermediate layer formed of a resilient material and include the debossed human hand profile.
In another aspect, at least one layer may define a top layer defining an aperture therethrough in the form of a human hand profile.
In another aspect, a loop may be provided affixed to a periphery of the body.
In another aspect, a hand pad for stabilizing and supporting on a floor or other surface the hand of a user during stationary and dynamic exercises comprises a body having a plurality of layers including a top layer defining an aperture therethrough in the form of a human hand profile, an intermediate layer bonded to a bottom of the top layer and having a top surface defining a debossed human hand profile in vertical registration with the human hand profile aperture of the top layer, and a bottom layer bonded to a bottom surface of the intermediate layer and having a bottom surface having a slip-resistant texture.
In another aspect, the slip-resistant texture may be a series of parallel corrugations.
In another aspect, the corrugations may be transverse to a longitudinal orientation of the debossed human hand profile.
In another aspect, the human hand profile aperture in the top layer may be defined by a substantially continuous aperture sidewall.
In another aspect, the aperture sidewall may be concave.
In another aspect, a loop may be affixed to a periphery of the body.
In a still further aspect, a hand pad system for stabilizing and supporting on a floor or other surface the hand of a user during stationary and dynamic exercises comprises at least one hand pad comprising a body having a plurality of layers including a top layer defining an aperture therethrough in the form of a human hand profile wherein the aperture has a substantially continuous concave sidewall, an intermediate layer bonded to a bottom of the top layer and having a top surface defining a debossed human hand profile in vertical registration with the human hand profile aperture of the top layer, and a bottom layer bonded to a bottom surface of the intermediate layer and having a bottom surface having a plurality of parallel corrugations. At least one block, or brick, is provided having a plurality of substantially planar sides, each side having a plurality of parallel corrugations wherein the parallel corrugations physically interlock with the bottom layer corrugations of the pad.
In another aspect, the bottom layer and the brick may be coated with a slip-resistant material.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the invention will be further understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art by reference to the following written specification, claims and appended drawings.
The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, where like numerals denote like elements and in which:
Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views of the drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONThe following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the described embodiments or the application and uses of the described embodiments. As used herein, the word “exemplary” or “illustrative” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation described herein as “exemplary” or “illustrative” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. All of the implementations described below are exemplary implementations provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the embodiments of the disclosure and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, which is defined by the claims. For purposes of description herein, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “rear”, “right”, “front”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, and derivatives thereof shall relate to the invention as oriented in
Referring to
As best illustrated in
An intermediate layer 120 of the hand pad body 102 is formed of a resilient material, providing some give to effectively relieve stress against the hand and wrist, and has a debossment 124 defined in a top surface 122 of the intermediate layer 120 in the profile of the palm and fingers of a human hand. The debossment 124 forms the bottom wall 125 of the cavity 106 and accommodates supporting the palm and fingers of the user's hand, once received through the hand profile aperture 136, upon the bottom wall 125. The resilient nature of the intermediate layer 120 functions to cushion the user's hand during the performance of the stationary or dynamic exercises, thereby relieving pressure against the user's hand and wrist. The top surface 122 of the intermediate layer 120 is preferably bonded to the bottom surface 132 of the top layer 130 in a manner such that the cavity sidewall 137 of the human hand profile aperture 136 is in vertical registration with the cavity bottom wall 125. Preferably, the cavity bottom wall 125 has a dimpled, or golf ball like, surface, which may be constructed from neoprene, EVA foams with varying densities, etc., which has anti-sweat, water resistant and antimicrobial characteristics.
A bottom layer 110 of the hand pad body 102 is formed, or otherwise created, from a durable material for contacting a floor or other supporting ground surface (not shown in
It is preferable that the three EVA foam layers 110, 120 and 130, are permanently attached, forming a laminate-like construction, using either a chemical adhesive or heat bonding the layers to one another.
Referring now particularly to
Referring now particularly to
Although the block body 152 is shown in
Since many modifications, variations, and changes in detail can be made to the described preferred embodiments of the invention, it is intended that all matters in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
Claims
1. A hand pad for stabilizing and supporting on a floor or other surface a hand of a user during stationary and dynamic exercises, said hand pad comprising:
- a body having a top surface and a bottom surface of a slip-resistant texture and being spaced from said top surface; and
- a cavity debossed in said body in a profile of a palm and fingers of a human hand, said cavity extending into said body from said top surface of said body toward and short of said bottom surface of said body, said cavity being formed by a bottom wall debossed in the body in the profile of the palm and fingers of the human hand, said bottom wall being disposed below and spaced from said top surface of said body and disposed above and spaced from said bottom surface of said body, said cavity also being formed by a sidewall being continuous so as to peripherally surround said bottom wall without interruption and being contiguous with said bottom wall of said cavity and said top surface of said body so as to extend between and interconnect said bottom wall of said cavity and said top surface of said body, said continuous and contiguous sidewall defining an aperture in said body being of a peripherally-enclosed configuration in the profile of the palm and fingers of the human hand and in vertical registration with said bottom wall so as to enable the palm and fingers of a hand of a user to be received through said aperture and onto said bottom wall in said cavity such that said continuous and contiguous sidewall aids in retention of the palm and fingers of the hand of the user in said aperture while the user is using said hand pad during stationary and dynamic exercises.
2. The hand pad according to claim 1 wherein said slip-resistant texture of said bottom surface of said body is a plurality of parallel corrugations.
3. The hand pad according to claim 2 wherein said corrugations are transverse to a longitudinal orientation of said cavity in said body.
4. The hand pad according to claim 1 wherein said bottom surface of said body is coated with a slip-resistant substance.
5. The hand pad according to claim 1 wherein said continuous sidewall of said cavity is concave between said bottom wall of said cavity and said top surface of said body.
6. The hand pad according to claim 1 wherein said body comprises a plurality of layers.
7. The hand pad according to claim 6 wherein at least one layer is a bottom layer, said bottom layer being formed of a slip-resistant substance.
8. The hand pad according to claim 7 wherein said bottom layer has said bottom surface of said body being formed as a plurality of parallel corrugations substantially transverse to a longitudinal orientation of said cavity in said body.
9. The hand pad according to claim 6 wherein at least one layer is an intermediate layer formed of a resilient material and including said bottom wall of said cavity.
10. The hand pad according to claim 6 wherein at least one layer is a top layer including said continuous and contiguous sidewall of said peripherally-enclosed aperture of said cavity.
11. The hand pad according to claim 1 including a loop affixed to a periphery of said body.
12. A hand pad for stabilizing and supporting on a floor or other surface a hand of a user during stationary and dynamic exercises, said hand pad comprising:
- a body having a plurality of layers including: a top layer defining an aperture therethrough in the form of a human hand profile; an intermediate layer bonded to a bottom of said top layer and having a top surface defining a debossed human hand profile in vertical registration with said human hand profile aperture of said top layer; and a bottom layer bonded to a bottom surface of said intermediate layer, said bottom layer having a bottom surface having a slip-resistant texture.
13. The hand pad according to claim 12 wherein said slip-resistant texture is a series of parallel corrugations.
14. The hand pad according to claim 13 wherein said corrugations are transverse to a longitudinal orientation of said debossed human hand profile.
15. The hand pad according to claim 12 wherein said human hand profile aperture in said top layer is defined by a substantially continuous aperture sidewall.
16. The hand pad according to claim 12 wherein said aperture sidewall is concave.
17. The hand pad according to claim 12 including a loop affixed to a periphery of said body.
18. A hand pad system for stabilizing and supporting on a floor or other surface a hand of a user during stationary and dynamic exercises, said hand pad system comprising:
- at least one hand pad comprising a body having a plurality of layers including: a top layer defining an aperture therethrough in the form of a human hand profile said aperture having a substantially continuous concave sidewall; an intermediate layer bonded to a bottom of said top layer and having a top surface defining a debossed human hand profile in vertical registration with said human hand profile aperture of said top layer; and a bottom layer bonded to a bottom surface of said intermediate layer, said bottom layer having a bottom surface having a slip-resistant texture being a plurality of parallel corrugations; and
- at least one block having a plurality of substantially planar sides, each side having a plurality of parallel corrugations, said parallel corrugations physically interlocking with said bottom layer corrugations of said pad.
19. The hand pad system according to claim 18 wherein said bottom layer and said block are coated with said slip-resistant material.
20. The hand pad according to claim 1 further comprising a block having a plurality of substantially planar sides, an upper one of which being disposed beneath and contacting said bottom surface of said body so as to elevate and support said body above the floor or other surface.
21. The hand pad according to claim 20 wherein said upper one of said planar sides of said block is inclined so as to elevate and support said body above and at an angle to the floor or other surface.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Apr 13, 2015
Date of Patent: Jan 31, 2017
Inventor: Michael Leonard Izzolo, Jr. (Palm City, FL)
Primary Examiner: Andrew S Lo
Application Number: 14/685,305